Constructional material functioning as an expansion joint



A. C. FISCHER Jan. 5? 1932.

CONSTRUGTIONAL MATERIAL FUNCTIONING AS AN EXPANSION JOINT Original Filed Dec. 5. 1927 Patented Jan. 5, 1932 lUNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE ALBERT C. FISCHER, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIG-NOR TO THE PHILIP CAREY MANUFACTURING COMPANY, A CORIORATION OF OHIO CONSTRUCTIONAL MATERIAL FUNGIIONING- AS ,AN EXPANSION JOINT Application led December 5, 1927, Serial No. 237,835. Renewed June 11, 1930.

Woven, as is customary in forming such fibrous material into continuous sheets. This vegetable material may be Waterproofed or not, as is preferred, by injecting therein any bituminous or petroleum waterproong saturants adapted thereto, thus making the material waterproof but not destroying the.

felted, matted form which gives to the eXpansion oint the inherent power of compression within itself and the power to re-expand of its own accord'. The fibrous material may be saturated wit a waterproofing saturant or may only be coated with a relatively thick bituminous layer. This will depend upon the depth of penetration of the bituminous material upon the surface, it, however, being understood that the entire center is entirely devoid of wa- 3" terproofing material. This condition is controlled by limiting the injection to the surface of the joint and retaining the bulk of the fibrous material free from saturation or waterproofing. i

The use of such fibrous material prevents breakage of the joint, thus enabling it to be handled in a rough manner and still not be destroyed, whereas all solid bituminous joints, whether provided with felt sides or otherwise, become very brittle in cold weather and a minimum shock often breaks or cracks the entire joint. Y

Another object of my invention is to mat this iibrous material together in such a manner that it may present smooth sides to the f face of the concrete, and by rolling or forming this matted, fibrous material between rollers, 'making various formations thereon in the shape of elevations and depressions or 5 corrugations against which the concretefis formed, such elevations and corrugations being uniform and oppositely constructed so j that the thickness of th'e expansion joint at any one point is uniform; thus, if a corrugation is elevated on one side the opposite side of that' elevation would be depressed on the opposite side of the joint. The purpose of these elevations and depressions primarily is to prevent the joint from creeping out of the crevice.

Another object of my invention is to form this fibrous material as in` matted form in a wet condition, then run through form presses or suitable machinery to mat the material together. The material should then preferably e5 be dried, either in warming ovens or other- Wise, and if desired, suitably waterproofed.

Another object of my invention is .to prepare a joint which is lighter in structure than solid bituminous joints, thus effecting economy in transportation and eii'ectin Y economy in the necessary amount 0f soli material needed for the expansion joint. Heretofore, the solid bituminousjoints when under compression in warm weather have always oozed out of the crevice and have been flattened on the pavement by the passing traffic, so that the bituminous matter could not get back into the crevice, thus making a defective joint. Byusing a fibrous body of the type described this cannot happen, as the material is both compressible within itself and re-expansive when the pressure is released, without oozing out of the crevice.

With these and incidental objects inview, the invention consists of certain novel features of construction and combination of designs, and methods of coating or double saturating, the essential elements of which are hereinafter described.

With reference to the ldrawings which accompany and form a part of this specification:

Figure 1 represents a section of construc- 95 tional material showing elevations D, depressions E, and irregularly overlapping, foliated mats F.

Figure 2` illustrates a cross-section of l Figure 1, showing depressions E, elevations D, and foliated, irregularly oyerlapping `mats F.

Figure 3 illustrates a cross-section of Figure 4 showing depressions E, elevations D, and foliated, overlapping mats F.

Figure 4 illustrates a body section of the structure shown in cross-section Figure 3, in which D represents the elevations, E the depressions and F the irregularlyl overlapping, `foliated mats.

Figure 5 illustrates the locking or molding of the paving material in tbe face of the constructional joint without locking the slabs, as shown along the lines H, G representing the concrete, D the elevations and E the depressions.

'Figure 6 illustrates a cross section of a fibrous .body having a relatively thick bituminous coating L covering same.

It can bereadily understood that the projections may be only on one face of the constructional material or on both faces. The fibrous material in this invention is unwaterproofed and consists of irregular, interrupted, overlapping mats of fibrous material assembled into a blocklike structure, said mats having linear fibrous material between the irregularly overlapping mats of fibrous material.

This material may well function as an expansion means, even in a dry state, but when the surface is waterproofed as above described, lwill also act as a waterproofing means as well as an expansion means between walls where it is desired that an open space be left below the filler, in which case it would be advantageous to have the plastic material of which the walls are formed molded to the face of the constructional material functioning as an expansion joint medium, so that it would be held in place and act as an eX- pansion and contraction means between the Walls. There are numerous other places where this material could function as an expansion and contraction joint.

I claim:

1. Preformed constructional material functioning as an expansion joint, comprising a flexible, boardlike strip embodying in its structure interrupted and substantially par allel mats of vegetable fibers pressed together and irregularly overlapping one another and embossed on one face to provide an irregular surface.

2. Preformed constructional materialfunctioning as an expansion joint, comprising a flexible, boardlike strip made up of interrupted and substantially parallel matsv of linear fibers of various kinds` said mats irregularly overlapping one another, and the strip being embossed to provide a series of elevations and depressions on vits surface.

3. Preformed constructional material functioning as an expansion joint, comprising a terrupted and substantially parallel mats of fibrous material irre larly overlapping one another and embosse on faces with alternate elevations and depressions.

4. Preformed constructional material functioning as an expansion joint, comprising interrupted and substantially parallel mats of fibrous material in varying dimensions, and finely divided fibrous material, and assembled into an irregularly overlapping, blocklike structure, said structure embossed to provide an irregular face.

5. Preformed constructional material functioning as an expansion joint, comprising a flexible, boardlike strip embodying in its structure interrupted and substantially parallel mats of fibrous material, irregularly overlapping one another and the surface permeated with bituminous material,. and embossed.

6. Preformed constructional material comprising an inner body of substantial thickness o unwaterproofed fibrous material, and compressible within itself and expansible upon release of such compression, the material of said body being substantially enclosed in a bituminous jacket, and embossed.

7. Preformed constructional material comprising a body of substantial thickness, including unwaterproofed fibers and compressible within itself and expansible upon release of such compression, said body being enclosed in a bituminous j acket of considerable thickness, and embossed.

8. A preformed expansion joint comprising a flexible, boardlike strip .of unwaterproofed felted, fibrous material and compressible within itself and re-expansible upon release of such compression, said strip being substantially enclosed in a bituminous jacket of considerable thickness, and embossed.

9. Preformed constructional material comprising a body of felted, fibrous mats, irre larly overlapping each other, compressi le within itself and expansible upon release of such com ression, said body being substantially enc osed in a bituminous jacket of considerable thickness, and embossed.

10. Preformed constructional material comprising a bod of substantial thickness com osed of felte fibrous mats, irregularly over apping one another and including finely divided fibers, said material being compressible within itself and ex ansible upon compression, and said body eing substantially enclosed in a bituminous jacket of considerable thickness, and embossed.

11. A preformed composition strip comprising a plastic elastic boardlike body of substantial thickness composed of fibrous mats fclted together and waterproofed, and embossments formed in the face of the strip.

12. A preformed composition strip comprising a plastic elastic boardlike body of substantial thickness composed of waterproofed fibrous material, and'embossments formed in the face of the strip.

13. A preformed expansion joint composed of compressible and eXpansible material embossed on its opposite faces to provide integral, relatively shallow depressions and projections on the surface area of the joint for the purpose of preventing the strip from being bodily dislocated from its position between\adjacent constructional sectional sections.

14. A preformed expansion joint composed of homogenous material, the opposite faces of the material itself being embossed with relatively shallow depressions and projections formed in the body of the material and adapted to lock the expansion joint between adjacent sections of construction material.

15. A preformed expansion joint homogeneously formed of Waterproofed fibrous material having embossed elevations and depressions in thesides thereof.

16. A preformed expansion joint composed of compressible, non-metallic material having embossed elevations and depressions in the sides thereof, the thickness of the said strip being greater than the elevations and depressions.

17. A preformed expansion joint of nonmetallic, waterproofed materials of compressible nature ofuniform thicknesssaid strip having alternate projections and depressions embossed on its opposite faces, the depression on the side of one face'being opposite a projection on the opposite face of the strip. 18. A preformed expansion joint having depressions and projections formed in its side faces, said depressions and projections being formed in checkered formation.

19. A preformed expansion joint comprising bituminous material and matted fibers formed homogeneously into a block-like structure, and embossed with integral, superficial, parallel depressions extending horizontally the length thereof.

20. A preformed expansion joint comprising a waterproof binder and matted fibers formed into a rectangular shaped strip, said strip being faced with embossed paralleling depressions in horizontal line.

21. A packing for construction work comprising a preformed block-like structure.

composed of a waterproof binderand fiber,

said block having upon a face thereof em- V bossed paralleling depressions running in a horizontal direction.

22. vA preformed expansion joint comprising a block-like strip of waterproof binder and bers having a face embossed with elevations and depressions thereon.

23. A preformed expansion joint comprising a homogeneous structure of Waterproof binder and fiber, said structure having its face indented with elevations and depressions and a substantial thickened center portion undisturbed by said elevations and depressions.

24. The method of forming an expansion joint which consists in forming a joint of compressible and expansible non-metallic material of uniform body thiclmess, and im'- pressing the superficial faces of the material with integral elevations and depressions constituting a fractional thickness of the body thereof, which serve as an anchor therefor.

25. The method of reparing an expansion joint which consists 1n associating sheets of expansible material to form a body of uniform thickness, and then subjecting the body to pressure on preformed areas to impress aligned depressions, and corresponding elevations constituting a fractional depth of the body thickness.

Signed at Chicago, Illinois, this 2nd day of December 1927.

ALBERT C. FISCHER. 

